Using Skip-Bo Cards to learn Math Skills

One of my favorite games to play with the kids right now is my modified version of
Skip-Bo. 
I wrote about this a couple of years ago on my blog.  This is game is so simple. 
I started with numbers 1-5. When my little guys can identify them with ease we add six.  

I have all the cards stacked in the middle of the table and each player picks one card at
a time. 
Then we lay the cards out in front of them in order.  

If he does not know the number then we count the numbers in front of him so he can match
the number or find the correct spot for it.  

It is fun and easy to play.  If a child gets the Skip-Bo card he gives all the players a high-five.
 (This is better than saying you lose your turn and it encourages team building.) The winner
of the game is all the people who are having fun. I usually give everyone a sticker who
has fun and clean up.  

As the kids advance in their knowledge you can play:

• War:  Divide the cards evenly between all the players.  Each player flips a card, the

person with the greatest value number wins all the cards.  In the event of a tie, flip a
second card.  

• Change the game to the person with the least value.  

• Then play where you flip two cards and add them up for your value.  

I also used the cards as an enrichment activity for double and triple digit addition and
subtraction in Math Journals. 

**Don't be afraid to stack the deck with only numbers you want to use. I have several
sets of cards so when I am working with 1-2-3 numbers, I have a lot of cards to
work with.

Easter Listening Center

Keeping the boys and girls in kindergarten and first grade interested in reading all year long can be challenging.  That is why I have been working so hard this year to find stories the kids will be motivated to listen to.  It is more work than you think.   Creating an engaging listening center is a lot different these days, my students prefer to listen and watch stories on the ipad.  

When I first got my ipad I was able to find lots of story apps for $1 however that has not been the case lately.  In fact many of the stories can be costly or the apps are confusing for young readers to manage on their own.  So I have turned to youtube and the generosity of the wonderful people who are reading the stories and recording them.  

I find links on youtube and filter out the surrounding advertisements and create my own qr codes. My students use this center on their own as part of my weekly reading block and I want to make sure the links are safe for them.  Each week my students are required to listen to one story on the ipad and complete a listening form.  I use all sorts of different forms I have collected over the years on Pinterest and various other sources during the first two quarters. 

However, once third quarter starts I have the students start to complete the forms attached to the unit.  We start with the simple ones and work our way to writing our own letter on lined paper. 

I like to print out the listening cards on card stock and laminate them.  I punch a hole in the corner and gather them together with a ring.  I keep the cards in the ipad basket.  Another teacher at my school hangs the cards up on the students’ lockers.  Another organization idea might be to keep them in a small binder or create a bulletin board with the cards in your reading center. 

Click Here to get The Easter Listening Center for FREE! 

I Spy A Turkey

Source

My little ones love playing I Spy games and they need to continue to practice beginning sounds.  So I quickly put this together for the short week.  This is one of their word activities for Daily Five.  Looking around the room for things or words that begin with the letters that spell  TURKEY !

Click Here for your Free Copy

 Enjoy :)

Computer Center

Managing the computer center could be a full time job......the children have so many questions as they work at the computers.  

In order to make the computer center as kid friendly as possible.....I have set up this page so I can just tell the children what picture I want them to click on.......and then they know what to work on.  

http://schuellers.wikispaces.com/Recommended+Websites

For example,  this week I want them to  play the brown bear game or red apple game during Math Stations 

and

during Literacy Stations I want them to read One Hungry Monster

http://schuellers.wikispaces.com/Stories

What do you do to make the computer center child friendly???

Big Pumpkin

Today I introduced the Listening Center as part of our Daily Five,  I have two areas the children can listen to stories.

The Listening Center:

and the Computer Center.

For the computer center I created this page where the children can pick a story:

http://schuellers.wikispaces.com/Stories

But things did not go as I planned........

I wanted to listen to my cassette tape of  

to introduce my lesson......

but is was ruined.......

however my partner teacher came to the rescue.  

She had found this link of the story on youtube........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHkuZKAW7bs

It does not show the pictures, so you will still need your book ........  perfect for listening.

Then I modeled with the children how to fill this listening center report I found at Deanna Jump's Blog.

Mrs. Jump's Class

The kids loved that they could give their opinion of the story.

Daily Five/Book Organization

I am getting old.........ok............this may not be the best way to start out a post but it is true.  There is a saying.....what goes around comes around.

I reorganized my books......just the way they were when I taught first grade years ago......into levels.  

I found this old cart in the basement of the school.  It has two sides.  

Now I need to start organizing my books in the cart......I have most of my little ones reading in level A, a couple in B and two more in G.

They fill out a basic book report each day that I found on a blog somewhere....

Next I would like to finish sorting all my books into the levels and then I would like to type up the names of the the titles in each level.

That way I can highlight the names of the books the children read.  (See what I mean about getting old.....the memory thing....)

Poetry Box

When I taught first grade I had a poetry box in my classroom in the reading center.  When I was organizing my book bins for Daily Five I thought, why not have the kindergarteners have a poetry notebook and a poetry basket to review the poem introduced during Calendar Time.

So I typed up the poems that we read during September.  I have the poems in color for the poetry box and black and white for student copies.  (I know it looks a bit funny on here but it does download correctly.)



I made a sign for the Poetry Basket using a font from Lettering Delights called Funky Chicken.

3 Ways to Read

I am just starting out with the Daily 5 in my classroom.
It will not be a big stretch for me because I already do some of the basic concepts already in my centers.

My goal is to introduce one new element a week.

This week I am introducing the anchor chart...3 ways to read........

So I started out on Pinterest to see what good ideas there are for posters and I found two that I loved

http://mchaffiek.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-01-30T13%3A10%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=10

and

She even has an excellent student response sheet!  I will definitely use this!

http://frogsinfirst.blogspot.com/2011/08/three-ways-to-read-book.html

I put them together and got.....

Unfortunately the t's did not turn out well in the laminating process......I would recommend taping things down better.  

I love looking on the blogs and Pinterest for good ideas.......thank you :)